THN Staff Playoff Pool: Results and Lessons Learned

You didn't think we'd forget, did you?

Before the playoffs, six THN.com staffers participated in a playoff pool. All six fantasy GM's had a slightly different approach and the results were interesting. 

Here were the rules:

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And the six THN.com staffers who took part, including yours truly (in order of draft selection): 

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The final rosters:

My strategy:

Go big or go home. After commander-in-chief Ryan Kennedy took the top players from the team that I thought would go all the way — the Canes — I knew I had to focus on two other teams that I thought could go far: the Stars and Panthers. 

In smaller pools, it may pay off to spread the wealth, but that usually ensures you'll only finish middle of the pack. It's all or nothing in playoff pools, so it's wise to stack up on the team that will ultimately play and win the most games. Quantity is king. 

The final tally:

1. Jacob Stoller, 110 points
2. Jason Chen, 91 points
3. Michael Traikos, 84 points
4. Jonathan Tovell, 83 points
5. Adam Proteau, 59 points
6. Ryan Kennedy, 57 points

Lessons (re-)learned:

1. Picking the best player works. 

Jacob ran away with first place thanks to Connor McDavid's 42 points and Evan Bouchard's 32 points. They were the top performers in the playoffs by a significant margin. 

Jonathan came into the draft a little tentative, but he made the right picks anyway by simply picking the best players. Leon Draisaitl finished with 31 points, the third-highest total, while Nathan MacKinnon picked up 14 points. Jonathan came one point shy of tying for third place.

The exception was Auston Matthews, who scored only four points for Ryan, but he was (rightfully) drafted late because there was little confidence the Leafs could go far in the playoffs. 

2. Go big or go home. 

Though putting all the eggs in one (or two) baskets didn't work out for Ryan, who backed the Stars and Canes, or Adam, who backed the Rangers, it worked out for me because I ended up picking the Panthers. 

(To be fair, I had Sebastian Aho and Jake Guentzel ranked second and third on my big board.)

Aleksander Barkov's 22 points ranked third among all players taken and Sergei Bobrovsky's 34 points (16 wins, 2 shutouts) was 14 more than second-place Jake Oettinger and Igor Shesterkin among goalies. It helped overcome the worst pick of the draft in Shea Theodore, who tallied zero points in seven games, and it also helped me target Brandon Montour, whose 11 points was the fourth-highest total among the defensemen taken.

3. Luck matters. 

In this case, not only does picking the right team help, so does avoiding injuries. Thatcher Demko earned just two points for Adam, and Roope Hintz scored just eight points after missing part of the playoffs due to injury. A healthy Hintz could've closed the gap between myself and Jacob, but it would've been hard to beat him anyway with McDavid on his roster.

Until the next playoffs!